If your product were audited, it would be tested as you sell it -- and if that incorporated product D, it seems it would fail. As I understand things, the entity which sells or places a product on the market is responsible for its compliance; that would be you. So there's really nothing for it but to market a compliant system. (That came out spelled "complaint" -- a truly Freudian slip.)
Still, if you wish to market product "D", and if it really does fail, you will have to either correct its problems or sell your equipment WITHOUT "D" -- and let customers know that you are no longer able to provide it. As consumers, we must be satisfied with DoC's, but as a manufacturer -- and legally liable reseller -- I'd want a copy of the test report. Ask for a copy of the test report from "D". There is a possibility you are over-testing; some of us overtest as insurance against audit failures. It may be that by using the (valid) methods they employ, the composite will pass. Of course, there is also the possibility they are under-testing, and in this case, you could have their product retested and supply them with results. If the supplier does provide you a copy of his test report, you will be able to see how their test setup differs from your own, and (assuming that it really does pass under the conditions used in that test) this will give you valuable information as to the sources of failure. There's a large possibility that the difference is in the cables you each use. I'd look long and hard at shield terminations. Pigtails are bad for compliance. Bending mylar-foil shields also causes failures. Even the way cables are laid up -- Cat I versus Cat V, for example -- can make a difference. And yes, the software used may cause repeatable differences. For example, if you poll once every ten clock cycles, and they poll once every hundred, you have ten times the chance for immunity failure as they do. If they use an error-correcting algorithm, and you do not, that will hide glitches. If you use a regular, periodic "null signal" waveform, while they do not, you will generate an emission -- where they don't. Opportunities to fail, as you know, are Legion; they come not single spy, etc. Good luck! Cortland ------------------------------------------- This message is from the IEEE EMC Society Product Safety Technical Committee emc-pstc discussion list. Visit our web site at: http://www.ewh.ieee.org/soc/emcs/pstc/ To cancel your subscription, send mail to: majord...@ieee.org with the single line: unsubscribe emc-pstc For help, send mail to the list administrators: Ron Pickard: emc-p...@hypercom.com Dave Heald: davehe...@attbi.com For policy questions, send mail to: Richard Nute: ri...@ieee.org Jim Bacher: j.bac...@ieee.org All emc-pstc postings are archived and searchable on the web at: http://ieeepstc.mindcruiser.com/ Click on "browse" and then "emc-pstc mailing list"
